For decades, fans of the classic Western television series Gunsmoke
have been plagued with one question: did Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss
Kitty ever kiss? Stars James Arness and Amanda Blake played the two characters,
and it’s undeniable that the two performers had an incredible amount of chemistry on the
screen. The show’s producers certainly exploited this chemistry, as audiences loved tuning in
week after week to see if Matt and Miss Kitty were ever going to make things official. Join
Facts Verse as James Arness says this is why he never kissed Miss Kitty.
Everyone Wanted Matt and Miss Kitty to Kiss When actress Amanda Blake was cast on the
Western television series Gunsmoke, she was in her mid-20s. The actress had fought hard to play
the part of Miss Kitty and was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to grace the screen alongside
James Arness’ Marshal Matt Dillon. The Gunsmoke television series was based upon the radio show
of the same name, where William Conrad played Matt and Georgia Ellis played Miss Kitty. Though
those performers had the perfect voices to bring those characters to life on the radio, television
producers knew they were going to need some stunningly attractive faces for their adaptation.
Television audiences were quickly won over by Amanda Blake’s portrayal of Miss Kitty.
On the show, Miss Kitty was the proprietor of Dodge City’s local saloon. The good looks
of the actress became even more apparent to audience members once the show made the
transition from black-and-white to color during it’s 1966 season, which was about halfway through
it’s run. The show premiered in 1955 and stayed on the air until 1975, yielding 20 seasons in total.
James Arness stayed on for all of Gunsmoke’s 20 seasons to play the character of Matt Dillon,
though Amanda Blake stepped down from playing the role of Miss Kitty during
the show’s 19th season. Throughout the entire time that Miss Kitty was on the series, the writers
distanced themselves from ever fully revealing what the relationship between the characters
was. However, it was plain that there was more going on between the two of them than met the eye.
The Producers Wanted to Keep the Relationship a Tease
Given that Matt and Miss Kitty were two attractive characters, it stands to reason
that audiences would’ve been keen on fantasizing about the two of them getting together. However,
there was more to the romantic relationship of the two characters than just audience fantasy.
The producers of Gunsmoke intentionally made it so that audiences were always wondering if the two
characters were hooking up, and the incredible chemistry of the performers helped with this.
Up until Amanda Blake passed away in 1989, the actress claimed that one of the most persistent
questions that she would get from fans was whether or not there was an episode of Gunsmoke where
she and James Arness kissed. Given that there were well over 600 episodes of the television
series by the time that it came to an end in the mid-1970s, it stands to reason that even
the most diehard fans would’ve had a hard time making sure that they’d seen each one. Alas,
there was never an episode of Gunsmoke where the characters of Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty kissed.
There are numerous reasons why the producers and writers of Gunsmoke
chose to never give the audience its money shot in regards to the on-screen validation
of Matt and Miss Kitty’s unspoken relationship. Of course, the biggest reason was that finally
coming clean about the true nature of the characters’ relationship would’ve forced the
creators to come up with a new way to tease audiences into being invested. After that,
there was simply the matter of the writers not knowing how they would
go about characterizing Marshal Matt Dillon as a man in the midst of a serious relationship.
Gunsmoke Often Hinted at the Truth of the Relationship
Though the true nature of the relationship between Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty was never blatantly
expressed in the television series, Gunsmoke’s creative team opened up after the show came to
an end about what they felt was going on between the characters when the cameras weren’t rolling.
According to them, the characters of Matt and Miss Kitty were indeed lovers. However, they didn’t
maintain a traditional romantic relationship, which was on account of Matt being Dodge
City’s marshal. Matt had a lot of enemies, and he didn’t want those enemies going after Miss Kitty.
Knowing the truth about what the writers of Gunsmoke intended Matt Dillon and Miss
Kitty’s relationship to be, it’s easy to see numerous clues throughout the show hinting
at the fact that the two were actually closer than they appeared to be. In fact,
there was an episode during Amanda Blake’s final season where the character of Miss Kitty
essentially came out and gave Matt an ultimatum, insinuating that the marshal needed to make their
relationship public or she was going to leave. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure
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Miss Kitty Gave Matt an Ultimatum in Season 19 Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty may never
have actually kissed during any of Gunsmoke’s 635 episodes, but they certainly had a great deal of
on-screen chemistry! The two often physically embraced, though they never locked lips. To
the untrained eye, it may have appeared as if the two characters were simply really great
friends. However, true fans know that the two characters were really secret lovers.
There were numerous times over the course of Gunsmoke’s 20 seasons where
the secret romantic relationship between Matt and Miss Kitty was all but spelled out for unsubtle
audience members. There were numerous episodes where one character or another came in to pose
a romantic rival of sorts for either Matt or Miss Kitty, though these episodes never made
it exactly clear why the two should be caring so much about each other’s romantic lives. The
episode that took things the farthest was called “Kitty’s Love Affair”, and it aired during
the show’s 19th season. Of course, this also ended up being Amanda Blake’s last season on the show.
In “Kitty’s Love Affair”, Miss Kitty became embroiled in a romantic relationship with a
man who ended up proposing to her. Miss Kitty went to Marshal Matt Dillon with the news,
giving him the ultimatum that he needed to marry her or she was going to end up running
off with someone else. Matt then reiterated that he couldn’t get married even if he wanted
to. Despite this showy display, Miss Kitty never ended up marrying that other character,
or anyone at all. Things went on as normal over the remainder of the 19th season,
and Amanda Blake was fired before the 20th season began.
Why Was Amanda Blake Fired from Gunsmoke? The reason for Amanda Blake’s firing from
Gunsmoke was that the actress had complained that Miss Kitty’s wardrobe was getting old.
The show wasn’t as successful as it had once been, and the producers were
hesitant to spend more money on props and wardrobe than need be. Because of this,
they allowed the character of Miss Kitty to continue wearing the same wardrobe
for several years. Given that Miss Kitty was supposed to be a high-class saloon proprietor,
Amanda felt that this didn’t ring true for the character. She ended up putting her foot
down and telling Gunsmoke’s producers that she wasn’t going to continue playing Miss
Kitty until she got a new wardrobe. With this, the longtime female lead of Gunsmoke was fired.
The producer that fired Amanda Blake claimed afterward that he
came to regret it almost immediately, and that it was one of the worst professional
decisions he ever made. Gunsmoke ended up calling its subsequent season its last,
and a big part of why the show had to be put down is because it no longer had the chemistry
of James Arness and Amanda Blake to coast off of. Seeing Marshal Matt Dillon without his secret
lover just wasn’t the same for audience members, and the show was understandably given the boot.
James and Amanda Did Kiss Elsewhere on Television Though James Arness and Amanda Blake never kissed
on Gunsmoke, fans may be shocked to learn that the two performers did kiss
elsewhere on television! In fact, a kiss between the two stars could be seen during a commercial
break early on in the television series’ run. Gunsmoke was sponsored during its early seasons
by the tobacco company L&M. As was the standard in those days, this sponsorship led to custom
commercial interludes featuring the stars of the series proper. One such commercial
featured Amanda Blake walking up to James Arness, giving him an entire carton of L&M cigarettes,
and then kissing him on the cheek. James then went on to proclaim directly to the
camera that this was his preferred way to receive his allotment of L&M cigarettes.
James and Amanda may not have been in character as Matt and Miss Kitty during this L&M commercial,
but it’s the best that anyone’s ever going to get if they want to see the two characters kiss!
Shortly before Amanda’s 1989 death, both her and James would reprise their respective Gunsmoke
roles in the made-for-television feature Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge. A few more
made-for-television features featuring James Arness followed after Amanda Blake’s passing.
Though Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty never tied the knot on Gunsmoke,
the stars that played them were both married more than once over the course of their lifetimes…
though never to each other. James Arness met his second wife after Gunsmoke’s makeup artist
set the two of them up on a blind date. The two then tied the knot in 1978 and remained
together until James’ 2011 death. Meanwhile, Amanda Blake was married unsuccessfully four
separate times over the course of her life and died alone as a result of AIDS.
Though James Arness and Amanda Blake never shared a kiss on Gunsmoke proper,
they shared a kiss during a commercial break early on in the show’s run. Now it’s time to hear from
you: did you know that the producers of Gunsmoke always intended for the characters of Marshal Matt
Dillon and Miss Kitty to be secret lovers and that there was a commercial that aired early
on in the show’s run in which the performers that played them kissed? As always, like this
video to show your support, subscribe, and hit the notification bell if you’d
like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!